Kepler Discovers Two Saturn-Sized Exo-Planets

The more objects we discover in space, the more we discover just how small we are. From BBC:

The US space agency’s Kepler planet-hunter has spied a star that has two Saturn-sized objects circling it.

Astronomers say they cannot be sure just yet but there may be a third, more Earth-sized planet present as well.

Follow-up studies were now trying to confirm this suspicion, Matthew Holman and colleagues told Science magazine.

The Kepler telescope was launched last year to identify planets by looking for periodic dips in light as objects pass in front of stars. It is equipped with the largest camera ever put in space.

The mission has so far amassed hundreds of these transit events but definitive statements about the discovery of new planets beyond our Solar System – so-called exoplanets – can only be made after many careful repeat observations.

The two Saturn-sized objects announced through the journal’s online publication tool, Science Express, are the result of seven months of detailed analysis.